Truth Wanted 07.38 with ObjectivelyDan and @UnquestionableCal 2024-09-20

Objectively Dan and The Unquestionable Calvin Smith discover the truth today with government lies, theists needing proof, ascending Biblical aliens, and a black tongue as a result of lying. Kyle in IN wants to know why a rational person would believe anything the government tells us such as weapons of mass destruction being in Iraq. The term “government” is broad and it is better to talk about specifics. The problem with never trusting them is sometimes they are correct. It is up to the citizens of any body to discern whether they can trust what they are being told. It can come down to compartmentalization; just because some people are lying, does not mean that everyone is lying. The question about Iraq and the use of weapons of mass destruction is: Was it actually a White House spin to justify a way or was it misreporting? John Paul in WA has been reading The God Delusion, and wants to know if the hosts think things look designed, and finds it interesting that atheists take the position where theists need the burden of proof. We can prove how many things are not designed, however, we have not yet  done this with everything. There will always be room for a god when we can’t explain things. Is a god the best explanation for these gaps? If the Judeo Christian god may not be the best explanation, why would it be any god at all? If this planet is designed, why are there so many things that are hostile to our existence? How do we know there are not multiple creators?Cameron in TX wants to talk about how the Bible seems to describe extraterrestrials. Many of these stories are allegory and unfalsifiable. Outside of the imagination of flourishing, what is the reason to believe these things? How much of this could be post hoc rationalizations? How is the inconsistency of god’s name in the Old Testament explained? Is it more probable that ancient people were wrestling with space aliens than them just making stuff up?James in TX was raised religious and realized that it did not make sense around 12 years of age. He describes how he was told that his tongue would turn black if he lied. He would then prove that was not true because his tongue never turned black. Christianity often dabbles in the unhealthy in bringing up people and that is why we like to talk about it. Beliefs inform actions and actions inform policy and that is why it is important to know whether or not something is true. Thank you for tuning in this evening. Prompt of the week is: If I were a ghost, I would______ just to fuck with people. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, Kelley Laughlin and Benjamin Clodfelter work through topics of bigotry, hate speech, and protecting the rights of LGBTQ+.Mark in PA grew up learning that people are inherently good, however, he has observed that over the last 10 years, many have become openly prejudiced and racist. This is nothing new, it has just become fashionable lately to be hateful and we are hoping that it will die off soon. We are seeing more now because everyone is carrying a camera, and people have the ability to express their view to the world. The anonymity of the internet has enabled people to say harmful things with no consequences. You can be the person who encourages people to do better, even if it is the smallest difference. A small candle lights a dark corner of the world; everything that you do helps. What can we do about the hatred that spews out of the internet?Keith in TX wants to discuss the paradox of tolerance where hate speech is allowed so it takes over and the only way to stop it is to become intolerant of the intolerant. This can be a tough uphill battle, but this is one that we can win. If there are no shared values, free speech is effectively dead. At what point is speech shut down and where is the line drawn for what you are advocating for? At what point do you go from having a conversation about free speech to promoting ideas that are limiting free speech? The best possible solution to dealing with this is to promote critical thinking. Mr. Crabs in MD calls to discuss LGBTQ+ in the military and the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Benjamin, a veteran, describes how important unit cohesion and accomplishing the mission is within the military and how it can be very progressive with how it handles things. What ended up happening is the people who were passionate about not wanting gay people, got out of the military or they just sucked it up. There is more of a commonality than there are differences. Kelley, also a veteran, emphasizes the importance of finding those common things with theists to have friendly conversations. The best thing you can do for the atheist community is to let people know that you are a good person as an atheist, and not the baby eating stereotype that people think. Thank you for tuning in this week! The prompt for the week is: What is a weird thing to be offended by?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

Discover the truth today with ObjectivelyDan and the one and only Magic Skeptic! They wrestle with the appropriate topic of the true meaning of truth before springing into out of body experience explanations.Rogue Show in SC asks the hosts what the truth is to them. There is not one way for Dan to understand truth and he explains the deflation area of explaining truth. We have to ask if we are describing reality or a concept. Truth to Dan is a reliable way to navigate his way in the world and experiences. Magic Skeptic(MS) describes this as a massive domain and would take more than a lifetime to read about. He explains how there is a colloquial understanding of truth that gets him through the day. There is the correspondence reality of truth that contorts to reality and there are many challenges to this theory. Truth does not always have to correspond with knowing. What is your understanding of what other people mean by truth? It is important to have an understanding of what people mean to have a fruitful dialogue. Is the phrase, “snow is white” true because snow is white or is it true because white is a property of snow itself? Correspondence theories have many complex problems associated with them. Is there an inherent property to something that makes it what it is? Dan in Canada, had an out of body experience when he was around 6. He was visiting his grandmother and stepped out of himself and looked down on himself. He recalls details such as wearing a radio around his neck. What is your perception of what happened? There are many things that can explain this experience, and sometimes we just need to settle on not knowing. How do you deal with the unknown when it comes to experiences you had? Keep searching for answers, but don’t accept any insufficient evidence. Thank you for wanting the truth this week! Question of the week is: What is something you learned as an adult that you should have learned as a child?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

In today’s episode of Truth Wanted, ObjectivelyDan and Richard Gilliver try to use free will to sort through cognitive dreams while explaining the emotional phenomenon that happens during church manipulation right after figuring out how to tax those same churches. Rogue Show in SC wants to talk about determination vs. free will. Richard explains that we are bound by things by what has happened before, yet it can go many ways. How do we know if the probabilities would turn out the same if we go back in time to the very beginning? How would it be possible for every variable to be predicted? What do you think about your life being a product of stuff moving around for billions of years? It is okay not to have an answer for these things. Greggery Peccary in TX thinks the comments about taxing all churches are wrong and that we should enforce the rules we have now where we tax a church. There are not enough narcs for churches that are violating the law and not every single church is hugely broadcasted. How do we get to the point where every church complies? How will we do this, are we going to tax grandma’s small church? Dan in Canada is looking for a rational explanation for his experience during an altar call in youth group camp where there were intense emotional moments. Love bombing is a manipulative tactic that cults use where the leaders give excessive compliments or attention to those involved, allowing control to be gained over those involved. Prime grounds are set for emotional euphoria because the kids do not receive these things all the time. Christianity takes advantage of this. Euphoric experiences can happen without the manipulation when visiting a pop concert, anticipated speaker, or during meditation. These experiences can have profound effects that include conversion from one belief system to another. Nny in OH had a near death experience yet does still not believe, and has cognitive dreams. Why do we need to be in an altared state or have a broken brain before experiencing god? How do you quantify the details of these dreams? We would be interested in how the dreams are tracked. If you genuinely believe this is true, make a detailed report soon after the event. Otherwise, you can start counting the hits and minimize the misses. Thank you for tuning in today! Question of the week is, if fortune cookie factories were run by skeptics, what would the fortune be?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

Discover the Truth with ObjectivelyDan and Llana DeBare take a deep dive into hell. They discuss hellish medieval art, classic concepts of hell, and a book that Llana has written about hell, Shaken Loose.  Llana describes how this book will raise questions such as: How can a just god create or tolerate such an unjust universe? There is no mercy in hell!Dan in Canada calls to talk about demon possession and a story where a police chief confirmed children were possessed. The story had several claims such as children walking up walls and movie type stuff. The Catholic Church will be the first group to tell you that this is a thing and it happens all the time. If you grow up with that understanding, you will start to attribute things to that belief. Sadly, this can be used as a point of discrimination against people with mental illness. What moved you away from the belief of demon possession?Heath, a lifelong atheist in Canada, tells us of an experience he had as a four year old. Another four year old walked over to him and told him that god is always watching us. When Heath responded by telling her that god is not real, it resulted in her mother screaming at Heath and telling him he had a black heart and was going to hell.  We are glad that at the age of four you had the sense of self to not take that comment to heart and have empathy for the other four year old. Heath asks the hosts their opinion on habitable planets, and if they exist, how they could increase the likelihood of god or magic existing. This does not increase the likelihood of the Abrahamic god. Maybe if there was a god that clearly gave his intent such as holding a press conference, that would hold some weight. There is a long history of using miracles to prove god and we all look to that, but so far there is nothing that is definitive. What would it take for you to believe in god? Even if you do experience what you think may be a miracle, remember, that people suffer from delusions. How would you tell the difference?Thank you for joining us this week! Prompt of the week is: It is a bad idea to ______at a formal event. If you struggle with the fear of hell, you can visit Recovering from Religion to learn of ways of dealing with this in a healthy manner. See you all next week!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

In tonight’s episode of the Truth Wanted, Objectively Dan and Brady Hardin wrestle with Supreme Court cases involving church and state separation before taking a deep dive into what it means to be a skeptic. Clutch Cargo in TX explains how the challenge of church being separated from state is complicated. He uses several examples including The Little Bird of the Snow vs. the U.S. case, and the Native American Church being able to ingest Peyote. He also brings up the origin of The Plastic Reindeer rule. Brady mentions reading a book that describes things happening decades ago that we recognize as the same types of things happening now. Rogueshow in SC wants to explore whether a theist can be a skeptic or not. It is hard to know what people mean when they use this word. Who is to say that skeptics don’t believe in other crazy stuff that defy scrutiny? What would be the conflict between the words, “theist” and “skeptic”? How many people from the flat earth community consider themselves skeptics? The term skeptic can be broadly applied. People who oppose climate change science consider themselves skeptics for instance. Do Christians see themselves as skeptics when it comes to any other belief system? Saying that you are a skeptic within a family of hardcore believers can be somewhat of a badge of honor and can show you are taking a stand. What do you consider yourself skeptical of and why? Dan hits us with a classic piece of wisdom, “The problem with recreational skeptics is when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Are you able to doubt or accept an opinion? Can you be a full skeptic and also have an identity that requires faith?Thank you for joining us this week! Prompt of the week is: What is Jesus’ excuse for not showing up?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

Discover the Truth with ObjectivelyDan and Tim Whitaker, the New Evangelical! They work through questions of faith healing, veganism, Christian Nationalism, and borders. And what would this be if we did not take a call about the Olympics allegedly mocking god! Nancy in NV wants to know how to talk to someone who knows people that claim to be faith healed. Approaching with curiosity and building rapport is a way to gain more understanding of what is happening. Rogue Show in SC asks Dan about being a vegan. Dan explains that this is a personal pursuit and is doing this for consistency. Dan asks himself, “How can I say that I like dogs and cats but am okay with a cow being slaughtered?”  If there were no risk of disease, when would it become okay for some animals to eat other animals? Is there an evolutionary reason for why we should eat animals? There will be advantages and disadvantages to any diet that you use. Jon in Canada starts off with an ad hominem and then says that the Olympics prove god because of the last supper scenario that was “mocking god”. Did you see the blue guy in the middle of the stage on a pile of fruit? Did you know that the painting from Leonardo da Vinci is not even Biblical? Do you have evidence that this was mocking god when all the evidence supports the opposite? What exact persecution are you talking about in America? You are suffering from the Christian Persecution Complex. Jack in MI calls to ask Tim how he would describeChristian Nationalism. Tim explains it is a specific brand of conservative Christianity that has the right to shape politics, is hierarchical in nature, and draws on white supremacy. They believe that god has called them to take dominion over society and make it Christian. Conservatives and Christian Nationalists are not the same. These movements are extremely dangerous; for instance, when abortion is restricted in some areas, infant mortality goes up, not down. What Christians think about how we should organize our lives should not be happening for everyone. If they get what they want, we will be living literally in The Handmaid's Tale. Lee in IL asks why we shouldn't allow our borders to be more fluid. The idea that Mexico is not sending their best is simply not true. Even things like Fetanyl are coming from people who are crossing the border legally. It is a shame that this conversation has been hijacked by conspiracy theorists that push a KKK type agenda. Thank you for tuning in this week! Question of the week is: When is a bad time to break up?Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.

Discover the truth today with Objectively Dan and AJ! They run through a discussion about morality before being joined by Kelley Laughlin for a final wrap up.Rogue Show in SC is asking about opinions on morality and if the hosts think it is objective or subjective. There is a battle in the caller’s mind between the two viewpoints. Christianity teaches that morality is objective, and when you deconstruct, you have to rethink this. Objective morality is just a thing we say to make us feel better. We have ways of considering this, especially in light of what can cause harm to people. It is important not to connect things that we “ought” to do with things that just are. There is no need to follow a book that says we need to do something for the rest of our lives. How do people’s meaning of, “better” impact their decisions on morality? There are many other metrics to use other than whether or not something causes harm. All morality comes from our interests, and other people’s interests. Thank you for tuning in this week! Prompt of the week is: What not to do in a haunted house:Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/truth-wanted--3195473/support.